Carlos Tevez scored the only goal of the game as Manchester United claimed a 1-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield.
Red Devils maintain Anfield stranglehold with 1-0 win
Carlos Tevez scored the only goal of the game as Manchester United claimed a 1-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield.
Although The Red Devils were not at their free-flowing best they continued their imperious record over Rafa Benitez's side on Merseyside.
The hosts fell asleep from a corner, allowing Wayne Rooney to strike Ryan Giggs' corner goalwards which Tevez stabbed home from close range.
Liverpool never really came close to equalising after the interval as United extended their unbeaten run at Anfield to six Premier League outings.
The win moves Sir Alex Ferguson's side nine points clear of Liverpool, although Benitez's side do have a game in hand on their rivals.
Twelve months ago, Liverpool did everything but beat United, virtually battering their North West rivals into submission before John O'Shea popped up in the final minute to snatch victory.
The home fans must have endured an uneasy feeling of deja vu as they watched the opening period unfold.
Frenzied
What incisive football was played amid a frenzied atmosphere was all theirs. The chances fell the way of the men in red too. Unfortunately, the shots were either off target or failed to beat a United defender stood on the line.
Liverpool's efforts were assisted by a rare faltering performance from Edwin van der Sar, who twice had his attempts to take what looked like routine catches hindered by his own players.
On the first occasion, the veteran Dutchman ran into a crowd of United defenders as he tried to collect a Steven Gerrard free-kick that had been deflected high into the air.
Harry Kewell was on to the loose ball first but drove his volley straight at Anderson, who was still marshalling a post.
Fernando Torres, a man Ferguson tried to buy from Atletico Madrid on three separate occasions, should have finished off the rebound but, from six yards, nodded disappointingly wide.
Then, when Van der Sar came off worst in a collision with Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand's back header seemed destined to bounce into his own net until Patrice Evra raced back to clear.
Torres was off-target with a couple of efforts, as was Sami Hyypia.
Yet, for all the pressure, it was United who took the lead two minutes before the break as the Liverpool defence fell apart following a Giggs corner.
After failing to pick up Rooney on the edge of the area, Alvaro Arbeloa then remained rooted to the goalline as Liverpool pushed up hoping for an offside as the ball fizzed into the box.
Celebration
Tevez scooped home his eighth goal of the season and the Argentina forward wheeled away in celebration, the ball hitting virtually the same spot O'Shea had found in March.
For a very brief moment, it appeared Torres would level within a minute of the re-start as the United defence opened up in front of the Spain international.
The ball seemed to get stuck under his feet and before he could regain any momentum, Torres had been robbed.
It was the prelude for more sustained Liverpool pressure, which United countered by throwing their bodies in the way of anything vaguely threatening.
Ferdinand and Vidic were immense figures at the heart of the rearguard action, their efforts only made slightly easier by Dirk Kuyt's poor performance.
Peter Crouch's introduction gave the Red Devils' overworked defence another problem to counter and another substitute, Ryan Babel, almost took advantage of the extra space when he skimmed a shot agonisingly wide of Van der Sar's left post.
Babel injected more life into the Liverpool attack but it was Rooney who would have saved the visiting fans an anxious final 10 minutes if he had not turned Ronaldo's low cross wide from eight yards.
| Liverpool |
Team Statistics |
Manchester United |
| 0 |
Goals |
1 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
1 |
| 4 |
Shots on Target |
2 |
| 15 |
Shots off Target |
2 |
| 3 |
Blocked Shots |
2 |
| 3 |
Corners |
3 |
| 14 |
Fouls |
15 |
| 1 |
Offsides |
1 |
| 2 |
Yellow Cards |
3 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 67.4 |
Passing Success |
67.1 |
| 26 |
Tackles |
30 |
| 80.8 |
Tackles Success |
83.3 |
| 57.4 |
Possession |
42.6 |
| 51.8 |
Territorial Advantage |
48.2 |
|
